


And Family Means Nobody Gets Left Behind

by Aelfay



Category: Captain America (Movies), Lilo & Stitch (2002), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Gratuitous Elvis, M/M, Nick Fury IS Cobra Bubbles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23150833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aelfay/pseuds/Aelfay
Summary: “Cobra Bubbles,” Clint said, and lost his breath to laughing instead. Fury’s eyebrow twitched.“You failed at bringing in an extra-terrestrial with demonstrated destructive capabilities because a child got attached to it.” Natasha’s voice was dry.“I delayed bringing in an extra-terrestrial with demonstrated destructive capabilities because it got attached to a child that I didn’t feel should be collateral damage,” Fury growled.Clint fell off his chair. Natasha’s lips trembled.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Lilo & Stitch & James "Bucky" Barnes, Lilo Pelekai & Stitch | Experiment 626, Natasha Romanov/Sam Wilson
Comments: 71
Kudos: 230
Collections: Fandom Trumps Hate 2020





	And Family Means Nobody Gets Left Behind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PR Zed (przed)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/przed/gifts).



> [This](http://heathertheurer.com/gallery-image/268/) is the version of Lilo and Stitch I see in this. [This work](https://www.etsy.com/listing/164599256/little-darlings-print-beauty-and-beast?ref=shop_home_active_1&crt=1) is what I got the idea of the photo from, only if the girl were Lilo and the monster were, ah, Stitch. Because they’re like that.

“Cobra Bubbles,” Clint said, and lost his breath to laughing instead. Fury’s eyebrow twitched.

“You failed at bringing in an extra-terrestrial with demonstrated destructive capabilities because a child got attached to it.” Natasha’s voice was dry.

“I _delayed_ bringing in an extra-terrestrial with demonstrated destructive capabilities because it got attached to a child that _I_ didn’t feel should be collateral damage,” Fury growled.

Clint fell off his chair. Natasha’s lips trembled.

“I don’t want this to become a showdown.” Fury was trying to regain his dignity. “I want a capable team willing to be diplomatic until the creature can be contained without damage to the local population. Hawaii is home to some _very_ endangered species, Agents.”

“Right. So we’re allowed to pick our team?” Nat asked, all business, as Clint clutched his abs and caught his breath.

“So long as you get the job done,” Fury said, narrowing his eyes at her. She smiled back blandly.

“Yes sir. Come on, Barton.” She turned on her heel and left. Clint stood up and followed, shoulders still shaking slightly.

Fury watched them leave and shook his head. “I’m going to have Hill prepare a protocol in case the entire island chain sinks.”

* * *

“Thank yourselves for your cooperation!” the overly-cheerful British flight attendant said perkily, after the _strangest_ in-flight safety demonstration Steve had ever seen, including Dum-Dum’s. The man left for the galley, thankfully taking his terrifying orange life vest and… hat… creation… with him.

“Is that the alien?” Steve asked dryly, and Clint snorted.

“No,” he said, “This is.” He shoved a photo over to Steve. He stared at the blue thing – six appendages, something like antennae, _giant_ fucking ears.

“It’s actually kinda cute,” Steve said, solidifying that he was still an idiot. Bucky would have kicked him. If they could find him.

Sam was snoring across the aisle, taking advantage of the trip he’d insisted they be on because ‘we can Barnes-search a gorgeous tropical paradise as well, we don’t have to stick to the ass-end of ugly, Rogers.’

“Why does it have spines,” Steve asked. “What kinda kid thinks this is a dog?”

“A kid who’s lost her parents and is desperate for companionship,” Clint said baldly, and Steve paused, then sighed, shoulders slumping.

“Goddamnit. And Fury wants us to steal her pet.”

“Her friend,” Natasha corrected. “Apparently it talks.”

“Oh _great_ ,” Steve said dryly. “So we’re kidnapping.”

Clint watched them carefully, and Steve raised his eyebrows, kicking him under the foldout table between them. “What.”

He shrugged. “I trust Captain America to find a diplomatic solution.”

Sam snorted. “Steve? Diplomatic?” Oh. So he wasn’t asleep.

Steve sat back and frowned at him, affronted.

Nat was internally laughing even though her mouth barely twitched. “Apparently this – alien – is able to shapeshift, and incredibly strong. Fury said he’s easily able to lift spaceships.”

“Not gonna lie, I’m rooting for this guy,” Clint admitted. “It seems to have done most of this crap to protect the kid.”

“What’s the kid look like?” Steve asked, tilting his head, and Clint slid over a photo of the girl. She was in a little muumuu, a flower crown on her head as she grinned at the camera, one arm wrapped around the blue creature in what Steve would have assumed was a chokehold if the creature hadn’t seemed so pleased about it.

The flower crown was crooked. Somehow that made her more endearing. Sam leaned over to look and grinned.

“Aw. She’s fuckin’ cute, man. Look at her little dress.”

“Sam, you can’t swear about a kid,” Steve said, appalled. Swearing in general? Sure. Swearing about children?

Oh god. What if Steve fucked up and swore around a kid. The press would never let him live it down.

“Futzin’ cute,” Sam said, and poked the picture for emphasis. Steve sighed.

* * *

The Asset laid back, pulled down his sunglasses, and sipped his fancy-ass tropical drink. It had a straw and two umbrellas and three cherries on little sticks, and the little sticks and umbrellas were stuck into the hollowed-out pineapple, which was filled with something cool and refreshing and tingly.

The Asset approved of the fancy-ass tropical drink. He also approved of sunglasses, umbrellas, including the tiny ones in his drink, and stolen ex-Hydra tech that he’d hotwired to his arm to make it look like a normal arm. And more than anything, he approved that Hawaiians had already seen white people pull so much shit that when he fucked up well-adjusted regular human interaction, they just assumed he was rich and stupid and probably had sunstroke.

The Asset was considering staying here forever and just merging with the sand at some point. Except if he stayed in the sand too long, he got itches in uncomfortable places. The Asset had learned this on day two.

Smuggling himself here in a cargo ship had been genius. Not only had he managed to kill a Hydra top-level goon who’d been on vacation in his paid-for-with-tax-dollars hoity-toity mansion, but then he’d gotten to commandeer said mansion. And, _and_ , after a boat ride in the dead of night and a two-day hiking trip and too many mosquitoes, he’d gotten to throw the Hydra goon _into a live volcano_.

Satisfying as hell, the Asset decided. If he could get away with it, he was gonna take down all of Hydra, toss them into volcanos the world over, and then come back here and merge with the sand.

For now? He frowned, slurped, and then got up to find the tiki bar again. For now, he was going to get another fancy-ass tropical drink.

* * *

“Won’t people start asking questions about Captain America in Hawaii?” Sam asked, and Natasha smirked as they got off the plane. That was hot, and terrifying. Sam casually shifted his suitcase to guard his privates.

“People on Kauai are used to rich famous people hiding on the island for some peace and quiet,” she said. “Last I heard, Julia Roberts had a pad down the street.”

“What the hell,” Sam said, wondering if being a tourist here made him an asshole, or meant he was supporting the local economy. Either way, he was gonna tip hella well.

“Where’s the best box lunch, Kai?” Clint asked the guy who was helping them load their bags into the golf cart that would take them to their car. Kai grinned at him.

“Hasn’t changed, brah.”

“Yesssss,” Clint hissed to himself, fistpumping quietly. “Hey, wait, that means she was able to fix it after the storm?”

“Got a mysterious grant from some charity that apparently funds storm recovery efforts. Never heard of it before the last storm, but—” Kai shrugged and winked at Clint, who just grinned. Sam narrowed his eyes.

“Barton,” he started, but Clint interrupted.

“Shhhh.” Sam continued, undeterred.

“Did you start a charity to save your favorite food place. Barton.”

“Nooo-ooo,” Clint said, shaking his head.

“Did you get Stark to start a charity to save your favorite food place.”

Clint waved his hands around vaguely. “Auntie Nalani makes shoyu chicken! Besides, it wasn’t just her, the island was hit pretty hard, and I like this place.”

Kai shook his head, amused, and he and Sam gave each other a look that Sam instantly understood – _he’s a crazy white guy, but the good kinda crazy._

The cart ahead of them, with Steve and Nat, started off, and Kai followed. They didn’t even need two carts for their gear – they hadn’t brought that much – but Steve was too heavy to put in a cart with the rest of them. Nobody ever mentioned that Captain America could ruin your car’s suspension. Or that his buddy could wrench out your steering wheel. “Right,” Sam said, looking around. Sun was set already, and he was fried from the plane ride. “What’s the plan? Please tell me the plan involves bed.”

“Bed,” Clint agreed. “Morning – or probably afternoon, really – we’ll grab some food, take the regular tourist tour, get used to the time difference, and then tomorrow night we can figure out what we actually want to do.”

Okay, so bed, then food at the favorite food place, probably, and then some scouting. Sam could do that. Especially if the scouting looked like touristing. This was going to be a sweet-ass mission.

* * *

He was at the pool, lounging on a deck chair instead of a towel this time, with something the drinks guy called a ‘screwdriver’ in his glass – the Asset didn’t know why, because it wasn’t at all like the tool, it was delicious and sweet and tart.

And then

  * _Captain America_
  * _Steve Rogers_
  * _The Man With A Plan_
  * _The Mission_



intruded in his peripheral vision.

No, nope, not the time, absolutely not. He’d want to _talk_. And have _feelings_. And he’d want his old friend, not the Asset, which compounded the issue by several orders of magnitude. What if he _cried?!_

The Asset dove behind a stack of deck chairs. He didn’t even spill his screwdriver drink. Nice.

Not so nice was the company. Luckily, the kid didn’t scream, her and her – blue animal – staring at him with big eyes, until the girl narrowed hers and whispered, “Did you sneak in to the pool too?”

“No,” The Asset whispered.

The girl’s eyes narrowed further, and so did the blue animal’s, eerily in concert. The Asset had _not_ been briefed on whatever that animal was.

Escaped Hydra experiment? That would make it an ally.

The girl followed his line of sight through the cracks between the deck chairs as _Captain America Steve Rogers The Man With A Plan The Mission_ settled into a deck chair and looked up at the Black Widow, then nodded. She sat in front of him and he began to apply sunscreen to her back. The Asset glared and took a suspicious slurp through his straw.

“You’re hiding from that guy,” she whispered. The Asset shrugged and set down his screwdriver. “Is it cause he’s a bad guy?” she asked, and he frowned. Yes? No? The handlers had said so, but the rest of him – the part that screamed _Steve Rogers Steve Rogers Steve Rogers_ – disagreed.

He shrugged again. “He’s with the government.”

The girl clutched at her blue thing with a gasp. “Oh no,” she said, “Stitch. They found us again! We haveta hide. We’re gonna haveta run away. C’mon, we gotta tell Nani we’re running away.” She was backing away from _Steve Rogers Steve Rogers Steve Steve Steve_ , before her eyes fixed on the Asset.

“Do you have anybody to run away with?” she whispered, and he shook his head. “Then you’re coming with us,” she decided, and grabbed his hand, eyes glancing back to Captain America, who was focused on his task.

“He’s busy,” she whispered, “Now! C’mon, Stitch!” And then she was pulling him away in a rush, and they were gone before the Black Widow could say anything, even though the Asset was pretty sure she’d seen them go.

Dammit. He’d left his screwdriver behind the deck chairs.

* * *

Clint stared, and then looked around to see if anyone else had noticed that.

Sam was still ordering drinks. Steve was focused on Nat. And Nat was staring back at Clint, eyes wide.

He shrugged, and she glared. He shrugged harder. What?? It wasn’t _his_ fault.

But also, it was nice to have confirmation that he wasn’t the only one who had just seen _the Winter Fucking Soldier_ running away with their target.

Steve was gonna lose his shit.

Clint wandered behind the stack of chairs and hummed. Ooh, a screwdriver. He picked it up and took a sip. Huh. Barnes had good taste.

“Did you just drink something that you found on the ground,” Sam said, turning to stare at him as he pocketed his wallet. Clint shrugged. “Dude, that’s nasty.”

“Delicious,” Clint corrected, and waggled his screwdriver, grinning. Sam made a face.

“Done,” Steve announced, and Nat straightened, smiling.

“Steve?” she said, and he raised his eyebrows as Sam grabbed the drinks tray, him and Clint wandering over. “Thanks for coming. I know you were busy with the search for Barnes. We’ll make the lost time up to you.”

Holy shit, she was taking credit for this. Steve looked so touched.

Genius.

“Yeah, Cap,” Clint said, taking Steve’s drink off the tray for Sam and handing it over to Steve. “We’re really grateful.”

Nat shot him a look. Hey, if she could milk it, so could he.

Sam stared at them both, shook his head, and said blandly, “I don’t want to know,” before sitting down, splaying out, and taking a long sip of his drink.

Someday Clint was gonna be that cool.

* * *

“I’m Lilo,” the girl said, still gripping the Asset’s hand. “This is Stitch. Why does your hand feel funny?” They were in a group of trees off the side of the road, the little girl panting between breaths, the Blue Thing – Stitch, apparently – clambering up a tree to stop at eye level with her head. Both of them watched the Asset in a creepily dual stare.

“It’s metal,” the Asset said, wondering what it said about Hydra’s top operative if a little girl could undo his cover in a minute and a half.

Probably said Hydra sucked. Which – yeah, fair.

“Woo-ow,” the girl said, then paused and wrinkled her nose. “Why’s it look like skin?” She let go, then poked it. 

Well. No point in hiding. The Asset reached up to turn off the cloaking apparatus. “Magic.”

“Whooooooaaaaa,” said Lilo – and Stitch, but in a weirder voice, like Donald Duck in old cartoons.

What the fuck was a Donald Duck. The Asset shook his head, recalibrating.

“Why would you hide that? It’s so coooool,” said Lilo.

“Cooool,” agreed Stitch.

Terrifying, thought the Asset.

* * *

“So, where do we start?” Sam asked. Nat hummed. A family – woman, man, three children (two boys, one girl) entered the pool area. No threat. Sam had a good point – they had to start somewhere, and Nat’s ideas of a starting place had just been drastically upended by the sight of their target dashing off with James.

Didn’t help her scrambled wits that she’d recognized James-Yasha-Bucky to actually _be_ James-Yasha when he’d darted out of the pool. Somewhere inside her a six-year-old was having a meltdown. Outside, she stayed calm as she tilted her head. 

“Where would you start?” she asked, like it was a test. Sam pursed his lips.

“Schools? Have Steve go in. Captain America with the kids.”

“She’s too young,” Clint said, but Natasha shook her head, cause it was a good idea, just wrong application.

“A day-care,” she said, “It’s summer, and they said her sister’s taking care of her, remember? Sister has to work, so she’s gotta be with someone.”

“They also said she has a history of running off,” Steve pointed out.

“All the more reason Cobra Bubbles would send Captain America to have a chat with the kids. Impress upon them the value of education,” Clint said. The bartender left the tiki bar for a shed behind it. The mom from the family was helping the little girl into the water while the father convinced the two boys to put on sunscreen.

The bartender came back with a bottle of ginger ale. Steve was nodding.

“I mean, either way it’s a good excuse for being on the island,” he said, and Nat raised her eyebrows, then shrugged.

“I’ll go have a chat with someone at the day-care.”

“Don’t you have to look up which one?” Sam asked, raising his eyebrows. Cute. 

“There’s like three on this side of the island,” she said, “It’ll take three calls.”

“Right,” Sam said, shaking his head. She tilted her head, as though somehow he would get less cute if she saw him from a different angle.

Sam Wilson was the physical incarnation of the word ‘smooth’, according to Clint, and he wasn’t wrong, which was aggravating. Natasha did casual. Natasha did tissue paper sex – one and done, messy and satisfying, thank you and goodbye.

Nat did not do _feelings_. But Sam Wilson was all about feelings. He was a therapist. He was open, honest, all the things counsellors told you to be. He’d stayed up late with her one night watching _Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure_ and had three wine coolers and told her about Riley when he wasn’t even drunk to dull the pain, and he’d cried in front of her, quietly, and she’d felt a seed bury itself in her chest.

Sam Wilson was smooth like clean running water, like soft stones velvety from the tide, and Natasha was worried her sharp edges were feeling his influence. She thought of geodes and rock tumblers and wondered if she’d be as beautiful without her rough parts.

Or maybe he’d like those just as much.

She worried very much that the seed in her chest would notice the clear running water and begin to sprout.

She needed to get over this.

Looking at Clint, she grinned. “Up to playing Press Agent, Agent Barton?”

Clint’s eyes lit up, and he forced himself into a half-dismissive busy look, pulling out his phone and pretending to scroll through it. “Yeah, yeah, he’ll do his speech for the kids for fifteen minutes and then we can do pictures for an hour and a half, but then we have to go, he has an appointment and we _really_ can’t be late, you know, Captain America never sleeps,” he said in the bored disdain of Hollywood management.

Steve stared at him and grimaced. “I think I just had a flashback to the USO.”

* * *

“NANIIIIIII,” Lilo shouted as they entered a little house. There were renovations, the Asset noted, like things had been recently destroyed and rebuilt, but it was still small and homey.

“Yes, Lilo? Did you get the—” A young woman came around the corner with a laundry basket, then stared at the Asset. The Asset prepared himself for the screaming. He hadn’t hidden his metal arm again.

The young woman just sighed. “Lilo,” she said tiredly, but Lilo gripped his hand harder and interrupted.

“Nani, we have to run away now,” she said seriously, “the government found us. He’s running away with us too, cause the government is after him.”

“Lilo,” the woman – Nani – said, exasperated, “How do you know he’s not a criminal?”

“Are you a crimninal?” Lilo asked him, and the Asset nodded.

“Oh,” she said, tilting her head and scrunching her nose. “Are you a _dangerous_ crimninal?”

The Asset nodded again.

Nani facepalmed.

Lilo seemed to consider this. “But Stitch is a dangerous crimninal too,” she muttered. “So we gotta find your badness level. Nani, we have to find his badness level.”

“Or maybe we should have the dangerous criminal leave. He even admitted he’s dangerous, Lilo,” Nani said, still oddly calm, more exasperated than anything. “I know Stitch will protect you from most things, but that’s no reason to—”

“Nani,” Lilo said, as serious as a little girl could be. “They thought Stitch was bad, but he’s good! He’s the goodest. He just needed some help.”

Stitch nodded next to her. “Family now,” he said in his squishy voice, and the Asset tilted his head curiously. What _was_ a Stitch, he wondered.

“So now we gotta find out if he needs help,” Lilo said firmly, and Nani groaned and scrubbed her face.

“How do you suggest we do that,” she groaned.

Lilo jut her jaw in a very determined fashion that had part of the Asset shouting about Captain America again, though he didn’t know why, because the mental image was of a skinny blond boy, not of the Captain. “We’re gonna use the Aloha rules,” she decided, and gripped his arm and dragged the Asset to a table.

“Don’t make a mess,” Nani said, looking tiredly resigned. When the Stitch passed her he patted her hand twice, and Nani gave him a little smile as he passed.

The Asset tilted his head. The Stitch was a dangerous criminal but also the goodest and also got smiles, and that didn’t make sense to the Asset. He was a dangerous criminal and that meant he wasn’t good and that he would never get smiles. How did the Stitch manage this. 

Maybe the Asset could do it too.

* * *

“Ooof,” Steve grunted, as a child nearly kicked him in the balls. He currently had one on his shoulders, one on his back, and three hanging off of each arm.

Sam wasn’t sure how this had become a contest of who could hold more children, but he was holding up his phone and grinning as he watched a child scramble onto Natasha’s back.

“Aw come on,” Steve complained, and Natasha laughed. She was holding an arabesque, and currently had two children sitting on her outstretched leg, three on each arm, and two now on her back, clinging to her shoulders. Frankly, the core strength? How. And hot. Like wow.

“Black Widow wins,” Clint declared, smiling with his eyes while he stayed in Agent persona, but Sam could see the whoop in the way they sparkled.

The kids on Nat cheered, and Steve pouted as the kid on his shoulders giggled, waving his hands, wearing Steve’s helmet.

The parents were laughing, taking photos, most of them having shown up the moment they found out that Captain America was going to be at their kid’s daycare. Catering from Clint’s Auntie Nalani’s place was on a buffet in the corner, set up last-minute, and Sam had to admit, they’d done pretty well for an idea they’d come up with that morning.

Except for one thing.

“She’s not here,” Clint murmured under his breath, sidling next to Sam as he took a photo of a chubby-cheeked child hopping off of Nat. “Damn.”

“But we got to see Nat do that, and Steve made that face,” Sam countered, and Steve glared at them.

“I can hear you,” he said. Sam winked at him.

* * *

“Aloha means lots of things,” Lilo told the Asset, grabbing crayons and paper before clambering onto the seat next to him. Stitch was on the table, grabbing his own feet. “But my kumu says it has three rules.” She shook out the crayons, face serious, before grabbing one and making three vaguely box-like shapes on the paper, fist clenched around the red crayon as she focused. “Number one – we show kindness to everyone.” She looked up at the Asset, who knew his shoulders were tight around his ears. “Are you kind to everyone?”

He swallowed. “No.”

She tilted her head. “Why not?”

The Asset glanced at Stitch. “Because they hurt me, and they hurt other people, so I haveta stop ‘em.”

Lilo’s eyes went wide, and she and Stitch shared a look before Stitch nodded and reached to pat the Asset’s metal hand. “If they’re bad guys—” he said, in his odd voice, and mimed a punch.

Lilo nodded determinedly, and paused, frowning. “Okay. So, how about rule one: we’re kind to all the nice people, but if someone hurts somebody else, or tries to hurt us, we punch them. Or you can have Stitch do it, he’s really good at tearing things apart. You’ll protect him, won’t you Stitch?” She looked at Stitch, who nodded fiercely, in a Build-A-Bear sort of way.

What the hell was a Build-A-Bear. The Asset really needed to stop malfunctioning so often.

“So, other than the bad guys, do you hurt people?” Lilo asked, eyes wide, and the Asset paused.

“I. Don’t want to,” he said hoarsely. “They made me. Sometimes. But I got away, so. Not anymore.”

Stitch and Lilo shared a look again, and Lilo nodded fiercely before Stitch picked up a blue crayon and put a big check mark in the first box-thing.

“Okay,” she decided. “Rule number two is that we speak good things to our brains. Kumu Kaola says this is ‘especting yourself.” She looked up at him. “Do you ‘espect yourself?”

The Asset stared at her. “Why.”

“Cause you’re a person, so you gotta be nice to yourself, cause you’re important,” she said, and the Asset stared at her for a very long time.

“Oh no,” she said, and Stitch scrambled off the counter before coming back with a box of tissues. Lilo clambered from her chair into the Asset’s lap, wiping his face.

Oh. Wet. He took a shuddering breath and stabilized her with his hands under her arms, some kind of muscle memory kicking in about how to make sure a kid doesn’t fall off your lap. Lilo was making soft hushing noises, wiping his face dry. Stitch clambered onto his shoulder and pet his hair.

The Asset hadn’t known that could be nice. He was used to tugging. But it was nice, and his shoulders relaxed slowly as he sniffed once.

“’s okay,” Lilo told him. “Promise. We’ll teach you how, it’s easy. I taught Stitch.”

Stitch gave a toothy grin when the Asset looked at him. “How,” the Asset said hoarsely.

“You start with a name,” Lilo decided.

* * *

Steve’s phone rang halfway through his sixth plate lunch, and the entire group lifted their heads, blinking. He pulled it out, expecting Tony, and frowned at the unknown number, lifting it to his ear hesitantly. If it was Fury calling about the thing at the daycare, he was going to hang up.

“Hello?”

“Hi,” said a little girl on the other end, and Steve turned his head to give the phone an incredulous glance. “Are you – who is he?” Murmuring in the background. “Are you Captain America The Man With A Plan The Mission Steve Rogers Punk? That’s a long name.”

Steve’s heart stopped. “Uh, yeah,” he said, voice a little shaky. He knew the others were all listening in now.

“Kay good. I have a question. My friend needs a name and he says you know it.”

Steve’s heart restarted, thundering in his ears as he whispered, “Yeah, I think I do. Does he have a metal arm?”

“Uh-huh. It’s _super_ cool,” the girl said, and Steve only realized he was smiling when he felt it waver, chin wobbling.

“His name’s Bucky,” he said. “James Buchanan Barnes, but he never went by James before, it was always Bucky.” He felt something splinter and looked down. Oh. He’d broken the table.

He’d buy Auntie Nalani a new one.

“Kay thanks aloha!” the little girl said before he could say anything else, and she hung up before he could do anything else either. Steve was left holding the phone to his ear, nothing but the pounding of his own heartbeat on the line.

“Steve,” Sam said, and reached to take his hand from the table, and Steve full-body shuddered, taking the phone from his ear.

“It was a little girl,” he said, voice a whisper, barely aware of anything but the desperate urge to somehow crawl through the phone lines to the other end. “She said she had a friend who needed a name. Said the friend had a metal arm. That he said I knew his name.” His voice shook worryingly. “He. Remembers me, Sam, he knew I’d know his name. He can’t—” his voice broke. “He can’t remember his own name, but he knew I would. And they called me.”

“Yeah, man,” Sam said, a soft smile on his face. “Yeah, he had her call you. That’s so good, Steve, I’m happy for you.”

Steve sucked a breath, and trembled when a half-giggle, half-sob tore from his throat. “Oh my god,” he gasped, and burst into hysterical, quiet laughter. Natasha began to smile across from him, Clint beaming as he stole a piece of chicken off Steve’s plate and kicked his ankle fondly.

* * *

“Bucky,” Stitch said after Lilo informed them of the Asset’s new name. “Good.”

The A—Bucky slowly turned over the name in his head. “Bucky,” he said, echoing Stitch.

“Yeah,” Lilo said proudly. “You’re Bucky and you’re a person, so you gotta say nice things to yourself.”

“I don’t know. How,” Bucky said, and she tilted her head.

“Well,” she said. “Rule three in Aloha is to always do your best. So long as you do your best, I think it’s okay.” She beamed.

“But I’m a criminal,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s okay.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Do you know the King?” she asked, and Bucky frowned.

“I thought America had a president,” he said, and she gasped.

“Stitch. The records,” she said, and the A—Bucky was being dragged into the other room.

* * *

Steve got ahold of himself eventually, and Clint tilted his head at him. “Hey, gimme your phone,” he said, seeing an opportunity, and Steve handed it over. Clint grinned and pulled up the Stark phone provider app, raising an eyebrow and turning to show Steve.

“Unknown number, but look,” he said. “No long-distance charges.”

“What’s that mean?” Steve asked, and Nat smiled, catching on.

“Means he’s somewhere on the islands,” she told Steve gently.

“What’d I tell you, man?” Sam asked him, grinning. “Can search the islands as well as the nasty places.”

Steve’s eyes were huge. “He – he’s. Really? He’s here?”

“Yeah,” Clint said, as Steve stared at the phone, then Clint, then the phone. “If he were off-island, there’d definitely be long-distance on here.”

Steve’s face glowed when he smiled, and Clint promised himself he was going to make this work out. He’d make it work. And it sounded like this little girl was doing Barnes a world of good.

Good for you, Lilo. He glanced at Nat, who was smiling thoughtfully, and knew they were thinking the same thing.

Yay.

* * *

Lilo dialled carefully, frowning in concentration. In the other room, Stitch had the music playing as he taught Bucky how to do Jailhouse Rock dancing real good. She’d taught Stitch so she knew he was gonna be great at it.

Elvis knew that just cause you were a crimninal didn’t mean you couldn’t have fun. Now they just had to show Bucky that. He already wanted to be nice and good, he just didn’t have very much practice.

“Hip—boom!” Stitch instructed.

“Boom,” said Bucky, quieter, but there was a smile in his voice now. Lilo shifted her hips in a hip-boom too, putting the phone to her ear.

“Hi,” said Mister Captain America The Man With A Plan The Mission Steve Rogers Punk. He sounded breathless and nervous. Like Lilo when she really wanted Nani to buy ice cream but Nani said if she asked one more time they _definitely_ wouldn’t get any.

“Hi,” she whispered. “I have a question.”

“Anything,” Mister Captain America The Man With A Plan The Mission Steve Rogers Punk said, and Lilo nodded to the phone.

“Are you really the Captain America who’s a superhero?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied, and he sounded like he really really meant it, and really really wanted her to believe it.

“Are you working for the government?” she asked. “Are you after Bucky and Stitch?”

The man paused, and then answered. “I was supposed to make sure Stitch didn’t hurt anybody,” he said, “And I want to find Bucky because I’m worried about him. He’s my best friend and I want him to be safe and happy.”

Lilo narrowed her eyes. “Stitch won’t hurt anybody except the bad guys,” she said confidently, remembering the rule before. “And Bucky’s with us so he’s safe. We’re teaching him how to be a person.”

The man made a little hiccupping sound, like Bucky had before he started crying. “I. Okay,” he said, and he sounded like he might be crying, too.

“Are you crying?” she asked.

He sniffed. “Only a little. I just. I’m really glad he’s okay.” He took a deep breath. “Thank you for looking out for him. Do you have someone to look out for you?”

“Uh-huh. I have Nani, and Stitch,” Lilo said confidently. “And David sometimes.”

“Okay. If I can help you, I will, okay? Just call this number and me and my friends will come right down and do anything you need help with,” said Mister Captain America The Man With A Plan The Mission Steve Rogers Punk.

Lilo thought he meant it. “Are you going to take Stitch or Bucky?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “Not unless they want me to. I’m not going to take anybody prisoner. I’m not that kinda punk.”

“Bucky says you’re Punk though. It’s in your name,” Lilo reminded him, and he made a chokey-sounding laugh like the time David tried to giggle round a bite of pineapple.

“You got me, but I’m not a mean punk,” he said, and she believed him.

“Kay. I’ll talk to him. I don’t know what he wants but I’m not gonna make him do _anything_ ,” she said. “He’s a person and he’s gonna do aloha real good.”

“Okay. Can you do me a favor?” said Mister Captain America The Man With A Plan The Mission Steve Rogers Punk.

“Mayyyybe,” she hedged, and heard him huff a laugh.

“Just tell him that I miss him, and I love him, and I’ll wait. I think he’s the best person, and I just wanted to know he was safe, so I won’t chase him anymore.”

“You know, Mister Captain Long Name Punk?” Lilo asked the phone, “You’re a lot nicer than the government.”

“Yeah?” said Mister Captain Long Name Punk, and he sounded all wet again. “Thanks, Lilo.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, and hung up, smiling, and then paused.

Wow. Captain America knew her name.

* * *

“We’re not taking Stitch,” Steve announced. “And I think I want Lilo to rule the world. Can we dethrone Fury and replace him with a six-year-old?”

“Oh my god,” said Sam, and glanced at Nat, but she was glowing with the force of her grin. “Oh no. What. What is it.”

“So. Barton and I were talking,” she said, and flopped next to Sam on the lanai swing, putting her legs over his lap. Her very shapely legs. “And we were thinking – if we made Lilo an honorary Avenger, she’d be more than qualified to take care of Stitch and Bucky. Not to mention Tony’s bank accounts would be at their disposal. And we could make sure she, her sister, and Bucky all had support.”

Sam stared at her. Steve had frozen in place. Clint took a really long slurp of the last of his smoothie.

“Nat?” Sam asked her. 

“Hm?” she asked with a little tilt of her head.

He bent in, and kissed her right between the eyes. She went a little cross-eyed refusing to take her eyes off him, but he didn’t get a heel in the balls, and so he counted it as good when he pulled back.

“About fuckin’ time,” said Clint, right before he got hug-tackled by Captain America.

* * *

_One Month Later_

“Are you ready, Stitch?” Lilo whispered behind the bush. Stitch nodded, face squinching with the force of his smile. She grinned.

The door to the quinjet opened slowly. Nani was standing to greet their guests, looking around for Lilo in confusion, Bucky next to her, holding a lei for Mister Captain America.

Three, two, one. Mister Captain America stepped out of the plane, and Lilo hit the button on the turntable. Stitch put a nail on it, and opened his mouth as Steve began to smile.

 _Wise men say_ , Elvis crooned.

Mister Captain America took the stairs two at a time, stopping in front of Bucky. His whole face looked like a sunrise, he was smiling so hard. Lilo snapped a picture.

_Only fools rush in_

Bucky was smiling back, a little quieter, but he had crinkles around his eyes, so Lilo knew he meant it. He put the lei around Mister Captain America’s neck, then used a hand to tug him in. Lilo totally got a picture of the kiss, beaming.

_But I can’t help falling in love with you._


End file.
